How to build a catastrophe response plan

'Tis the season for post-catastrophe response analysis.

Countless hours of reporting by different people with varying perspectives show us the good, the bad and the ugly realities. The reports are reviewed, a few adjustments are made, documented in the Catastrophe Response Plan (CRP) and shelved until the same time next year with no real lessons ever being learned and no real changes ever being made.

The industry is so quick to point out shortcomings in workflows and processes, but when it comes to implementing actual change there is resistance at nearly every turn. That resistance leads to marginal improvement year after year and the reality is that incremental changes can only lead to incremental improvements. We can do better.

It starts with addressing the elephant in the room: change is hard.

It's hard but it can be easier when the right considerations are made. A recent article by CIO titled 10 hard truths of change management hit the nail on the head: 'Change is about people: first, last, always.'

Plan for people

When we discuss change in any industry, people are often the last part of the discussion. Change is discussed in terms of strategy, process, and system solutions but the human element must be considered in each of these aspects. How do people interact with the solutions? What difficulties might they experience with the process? Once we introduce people back into the equation, we can proactively solve hurdles, reduce friction, and ultimately increase adoption rates.

Take policyholder communication, for example. When analyzing your CRP, clearly define the workflow and processes for these communications and then insert the human element to truly understand what works and what doesn't. Then you can identify what adjustments can be made to make it easier and more efficient for your people. Perhaps easy access to vital policy information and helpful tips allows your team to communicate with policyholders in a more productive and meaningful way. These details are often buried in separate screens and folders or may not be available at all, leading to a subpar customer experience and feelings of uncertainty in the policyholder.

Have clear communication

As part of your post-catastrophe response analysis, focus on thorough investigation of any complaints, escalations or issues that occurred. We often find that most issues arise out of a simple breakdown of communication. It could be poor, unclear, infrequent, or missing altogether, but any breakdown of communication will lead to an escalation of the claim.

Ideally, we all understand that consumers and policyholders must be at the epicenter of all communication, but we find that's usually not the case. Even tech solutions that engage consumers on a routine basis leveraged with human capital can still lead to breakdowns. Consider introducing specific touch points and service level expectations into your CRP. A five-to-seven-day touch point rule (regardless of claim status) via the policyholder's preferred method of contact with a genuine, personalized interaction can really strengthen the human element in the claims process. After all, we are in the business of helping people rebuild after a traumatic event. Why not show them how much we care during that process?

Effectively leverage data

Data can be your most powerful asset (next to your people).

The availability of near real-time data is amazing, and we can provide a world-class customer experience if we leverage it properly. The key to successfully leveraging data is automation and insights. Data mining itself is a manual process which takes time, time that you don't have during a catastrophic event. But this toxic narrative of 'there's just no time' is what enables us to fall back into old, slow, and inefficient processes that yield the same subpar results.

Build time for data mining into your CRP. Within 24-48 hours you can have data on power outages, mandatory evacuations, wind speeds, severity of damage and even some pre- and post-imagery to support that data. Some next steps in your CRP can include paying out applicable ALE benefits, intelligently triaging claims to appropriately allocate adjuster resources and personalizing communications to the policyholder based on their unique situation.

Remember to build strategic partners into your CRP who are like minded and ready to push the boundaries of what is possible and work to create a strong response in the off season. Because the consumer, the industry, and mother nature are all evolving, and we can't maintain the status quo and expect to be successful.